Schuyler County girls look to develop inside game in leading scorers absence

Wednesday

Jun 13, 2012 at 12:01 AMJul 25, 2012 at 3:18 PM

Bud Schrader

QUEEN CITY, Mo. - Schuyler County senior Mallory Haley thinks the ability for her team to get the ball inside will be key for the Lady Rams to be successful during the 2012-13 season.

“We have five seniors on the team,” she said. “Three of them are inside players. I think we can do a good job of getting the ball down low.”

Haley was one of four players who scored four points in Schuyler’s 37-24 loss to Jefferson Tuesday at the Northeast Team Camp.

Darius Farmer, Nikki Rowland and Megan Haley also had four points each as the Lady Rams played without last season’s scoring leader, Caley Sessions, who is recovering from a torn ACL. Sessions said she will be ready to go when the season starts.

Schuyler County coach Thomas Kirkland said the Lady Rams are playing hard in Sessions’ absence.

“We’ve been competitive in every game we have played [at the camp],” he said. “We’re looking for consistency in our execution. It seems like everybody is looking for their own shot.”

Jefferson, which finished fourth in the Class 1 State Tournament last season with a 28-4 record, scored 11 straight points at the start of the second half to take a 25-10 lead. Schuyler’s Laynee Schubert stopped Jefferson’s momentum by sinking a short jumper that sliced the Jefferson lead to 25-12.

Kirkland said even though Schuyler’s experience lies with inside players, he wants the team to run as much as they can.

“We want to push tempo,” he said. “We want to run when the opportunity presents itself. I think we can be a running team.”

Haley said she is concentrating on being more of a leader this season.

“I need to worry about doing the little things to make us better,” she said. “I need to worry about blocking out and rebounding. I think we’re going to run more and doing that stuff will help.”